6 minute read
Art Alley Busking
Love, Life experiences and bagels inspire Jason Garland's Lyrics
STORY BY MICHELLE PAWELSKI // PHOTOS BY SHILOH FRANCIS
Jason Garland thought he had written a song about his own personal journey. But as he played it for his dad, nearing the end of his battle with lung cancer, the words took on a new meaning.
“There is something a little mystical about songwriting,” he explained. “But if you overthink it the magic goes away.”
It’s been 10 years since his father, Bill, died. The lung cancer a result of exposure to Agent Orange during Vietnam. But Jason can still remember how his father captured a room with his words. “All my musical interest came from watching him,” Jason said. “It was his way of bringing people together. He would sing these fun songs, and we would all gather around and sing.”
“My dad wrote a lot of songs to the people in his life – personal songs. It is like there are just some things you can’t express except through a song. There are some emotions hard to convey without music. That’s the kind of songs he wrote. As far back as I can remember he was playing songs for us. Whenever we get together, I try to play the old songs he used to play to let his spirit continue to live.”
At age 8, Jason Garland became Rapid City’s own “Weird Al” Yankovic.
After hearing a song on the radio, Jason used his cassette player to record the song changing the lyrics to create his own parody.
It is a talent he still uses nearly 30 years later.
“Whatever imagination you use as a kid turns into creativity when you are an adult.”
A third-generation Rapid Citian, Jason has spent his life writing songs inspired by anything from his full-time job managing Black Hills Bagel’s Haines Street kiosk to his childhood to his father’s death.
His childhood parodies turned into songs about his personal life and at the age of 12, he started writing his own music. At 14, Jason taught himself how to play the guitar. “I picked up the guitar to try and write songs. That is at the heart of what I want to do is write songs. Playing the guitar and singing is just a medium to accomplish that.”
Jason has written over 200 songs, performed at local open mic nights including a concert at the Dahl titled “Roasted Songwriters”, and had a song featured in a short, independent film. Like his dad, Jason’s goal is that his music brings people together. That is exactly why he spends Thursday nights during the summer busking in Art Alley. “That is by far the most fun thing for me – when you see people walk by and have a smile across their face or if they know the song and start singing along. I love it. I feel so lucky to be able to do that. Every time I do, I think there is no place I’d rather be.”
Jason recalls one Art Alley night. He was playing the Matchbox Twenty song “3AM” when a couple came up to him. The wife was crying because her daughter was sick and that was their song. “It’s just moments like that that are incredible. Something I can be a part of.”
Jason starts off with songs people are familiar with and then moves into his originals. One of the most popular is called “Skyline Drive,” a song about driving to the windy road to clear his head and go back to simpler times. Jason grew up at the top of Tower Road.
On this year’s first Rapid City Summer Nights, Jason was in Art Alley singing with his fiancé Taylor Shepard, the inspiration behind his song Shepard Girl. The two also spend at least one night a week singing karaoke at Sally O’Malley’s which is where Jason proposed to Taylor in May. When the two met, Taylor did not sing or perform, Jason said. Now the couple is singing and writing songs together.
Jason Garland and fiancé, Taylor Shepard, sing in Art Alley during Rapid City Summer Nights.
“It has been really cool seeing her come out of her shell,” he said. “It is like a dream. I never thought I would meet a girl that I would write songs with.”
Jason’s plan is to inspire others as well. He is developing an online songwriting course called “Inspired Songwriting.” Jason hopes to have it launched by this fall. “I think a lot of people see songwriting as this daunting, impossible task, and I want these courses to break it down.”
While the courses will have the basic details on songwriting, the focus will be more on finding inspiration. “The longer I have written songs, the more I think inspiration is the most important aspect. You can sit down and spend hours writing a song and it is not going to be great, but if you are inspired you can write the song in 20 minutes and it’s better than anything else you have written.”
Jason says inspiration can come from anything and at any time. “Songs kind of write themselves. You just have to be there to capture it.”
For the past five years, Jason has been using his creativity to write jingles for Black Hills Bagels. “Debra (Jensen) and I used to work a lot in the coffee hut by ourselves, and we used to come up with videos that would get people to come in and we would just do funny things.”
One morning, Jason woke up inspired to write a little ditty about pumpkin season.
“Everything just started off really simple, but I enjoyed it so much that I kept exploring more and trying new things.”
Jason Garland serves coffee and bagels at the Black Hills Bagels coffee hut on Haines Avenue in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Along with writing the jingles, Jason started creating videos to accompany them as well as his own songs – all filmed with his smart phone. “I really love making videos as much as I love writing songs,” he said.
He hopes to continue writing jingles for Black Hills Bagels and expand to other local businesses. He also plans to help others find their creativity and continue searching for inspiration in the everyday. “A lot has to do with being in the mind space of writing songs. If you are always thinking about writing songs, you will see things you would not ordinarily see and be inspired by things you wouldn’t ordinarily think of.”
